Zuckerberg meets Modi: Will Internet.org fly in India?

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook is on a two day trip to India to address the first Internet.org summit in India. Mark is also going to meet the prime minister, Shree. Narendra Modi. He is primarily going to meet the PM to talk about the problems India could face in adapting Internet.org. Although Mark is keen on listening to Modi’s Digital Plan for the rural India, he seems eager on contributing his share too via Internet.org.

Internet.org which was started by Mark Zuckerberg, last year is a service through which everyone can have affordable and easy access to internet. With the low speed of data we get, one would naturally ask How? The project is designed by tackling 2 main problems:

1. Low Cost: Mark Zuckerberg plans to invest in infrastructure which will make signals travel farther, thus reducing cost of building cellphone towers.

2. Less Data: Mark explains with the use of Caching technology, the Internet.org apps would cache data rather than request data which will make a considerable difference in the consumption of data.

Mark praised India, “Inventions have changed the world throughout history. ‘Mangalyaan’ is a huge achievement for India,” he said. He further continued with zeal to provide Internet to everyone so that the creativity doesn’t stays hidden.

The problems for which Mark seeks solutions are:

The prevailing poverty in the rural regions of India

The lack of Infrastructure which he plans to overcome by installing network extension facility

The language barrier and the reluctance to adept to digitization in everyday use

He denied accusations that he was seeking to create a monopoly in access to online content in the developing world, saying mobile operators were free to decide which services they included, and did not have to include Facebook (Yes we believe you Mark ;)). But there are questions which pop in our mind, how is Mark going to profit from this social initiative?

Do you really think the telcos will have the right to choose? Or would they charge the 3rd party apps which aren’t covered in the project for inclusion which in return will affect the consumer? During his two-day visit, Mark will also meet Bharti (Airtel) Group Chairman Sunil Mittal and Micromax founder Rahul Sharma to push this agenda. Do you think Sunil Mittal will discuss his philosophy on anti net-neutrality?